The planet is warming at a record pace. So why are many companies retreating from their climate targets?
Volvo, Shell, Air New Zealand among companies that have abandoned previous environmental pledges.
In what is becoming something of a trend, a number of companies are abandoning their carbon emissions targets—in a year scientists have determined is likely to end up being the hottest on record.
Earlier this month, Volvo announced it was dropping its goal of having a fully electric lineup of vehicles by 2030.
In the summer, Air New Zealand said it was abandoning a pledge to reduce its emissions by about 29 per cent by 2030.
[I]n March, Shell announced it was easing its target of reducing the total “net carbon intensity” of all the energy products it sells by 20 per cent.
“I don’t think [the trend] is really new, but given the state of the world, it’s more apparent,” said Charles Cho, a professor of sustainability accounting and the Erivan K. Haub Chair in business and sustainability at the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto.
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[Last paragraph] “Systemically, business can’t get done in a world that’s being battered by climate change,” [Danielle] Fugere said. “We are looking at systemic failures already, and we’re barely above 1.5 degrees.”